Scoring Big with 4D - Digital Scout

At Digital Scout, knowledge leads to a competitive edge. Recognizing the need within amateur sports for professional-level statistics, Digital Scout set out to create innovative software solutions to help improve the collection, analysis, and dissemination of valuable game statistics. According to James Hunt, CFO of Digital Scout, "The Digital Scout software systems help coaches, athletes, and athletic teams at all levels know more so that they can win more.

Digital Scout’s Handheld Statistic and Scouting Technology

Using 4th Dimension development tools, Digital Scout has created three main product lines for gathering statistics, tracking performance, and analyzing opponents in real-time: Digital Scoutware, Digital Statware, and Digital Fanware. The sports covered by Digital Scout technologies include football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, baseball, and softball. These technologies benefit competitive sports ranging from the youth and recreational level to high school and college athletics. Digital Scoutware performs thorough analyses of opponent tendencies, while tracking player performance and generating detailed scouting reports. Digital Statware replaces the traditional "paper and pencil" methods of gathering statistics with computer technology that tracks and summarizes all vital game statistics, displaying real-time, on-screen visuals, generating reports, and exporting data to Web sites and the media. Finally, Digital Fanware provides fans with new ways to interact with games while tracking performance. "Our basketball Fanware, called "Shot Chart," was selected by Michael Jordan for the new Michael Jordan Edition of the Palm,‘" said Hunt. "Fans can now wirelessly download Digital Scout Basketball Fanware from kiosks at MCI arena to track the Washington Wizards."

4th Dimension – The Powerful, Scalable, Versatile Choice

According to Hunt, Digital Scout’s software needed a solution like 4th Dimension, which would provide the right features and scalability needed for such a comprehensive range of products. "Initially, our products used minimal features but have grown with the company to become more advanced," explains Hunt. "4th Dimension has made these transitions possible."

The Digital Scout team uses the 4th Dimension development environment to develop statistics and scouting modules. These modules enable game information to be entered on a handheld computer, and then through the use of the Hot Sync® function, information is transferred to the desktop. "We rely heavily on the underlying database functionality provided in 4D to manipulate the data in all of the different ways necessary to generate the many different kinds of reports that our users need and expect," said Hunt. The modules are then distributed to end users with 4D Engine and 4D Draw runtimes, along with a custom 4D external that was developed to interface with Palm OS devices. For Digital Scout fans, the majority of users prefer single game statistical reports and cumulative reports that allow users to track a team throughout an entire season.

4D’s cross-platform capabilities have also given Digital Scout a strong advantage in the market. "The 4D environment gives us the unique ability to provide software solutions for both Windows and Macintosh users," notes Hunt. "Creating solutions for the Windows platform has always been important, and the Macintosh platform is equally significant to us since many educational environments still continue to use Macintosh as their main computing platform."

Built with a strong set of 4D technologies, Digital Scout software systems are bringing the statistic and scouting abilities of amateur sports to a new level. Now teams from youth leagues to college teams can track their performance more effectively within a variety of sports, using this knowledge to learn more about the game while improving their overall athletic abilities. Already Digital Scout has relationships with ASA/USA Softball, USA Baseball, and USA Volleyball. Digital Scout software, built on the strong foundation of 4D, is ready to grow even more for the future.

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